A Guy Is Petitioning For Brisbane City Council To Crackdown On Charity Workers

Hundreds of signatures gathered

20 December 2017

Claire Sherwood

A CBD worker has launched a petition, calling on Brisbane City Council to crack down on charity workers.

Ryan Donohue, who works in Queen Street and lives in the city, wants Council to limit the number of collectors allowed, as well as some guidelines for how they can behave. He says his only aim is to "ensure that residents and visitors have the right to go about their business without being accosted."

"Residents also draw attention to the safety concerns regarding the impact to pedestrian flow on busy footways such as Adelaide, Queen and Edward streets by these charity collectors."

"Just to get lunch [every day], I walk past three or four and they can be quite persistent", he says.

Hundreds of people have shown their support for the petition, which closes January 1.

Donohue says the interest has been overwhelming.

"I only put it out there as a means for expressing my frustration but, look, I think that the general public feels about the same... we're not sort of saying get rid of it all together, but we're saying there needs to be some sort of regulation around their behaviour", Donohue says.

Donohue says he's not against the charities themselves, or the idea of street collectors.

"The charities themselves aren't the target here, it's the fundraising agencies and their behaviours. I believe there is a lot of good, legitimate charities that do a lot of good work but I guess I think people should donate direct to them rather than these agencies who get a commission".

Already, some regulatory bodies have set guidelines for their members. The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association - which represents workers for the likes of Assistance Dogs Australia, Australian Red Cross, the Cancer Council and CARE Australia - sets rules for members, saying it knows how important it is for charity conversations to be 'respectful, professional and positive'